After My Mate Learned I Was Lycan Royalty

The morning after the dinner, Margaret found me in the hallway outside the Alpha's office.

"Scarlet," she said, her voice carrying that particular brightness that always preceded something unpleasant. "The great hall needs scrubbing. The floor, specifically. Before noon."

I looked at her. She was dressed impeccably as always, her hair styled, her posture perfect. The former Luna of Graymist, still acting like she wore the title.

"The cleaning staff handles that," I said quietly.

"The cleaning staff is busy with preparations for the Silverpine delegation's extended visit." Her smile didn't reach her eyes. "You're not busy, are you? After all, you're just here to handle errands."

Just an Omega who handles errands. Bodie's words from last night, now being used as a weapon. I shouldn't have been surprised.

I nodded once. "I'll take care of it."

"Good." She turned to leave, then paused. "Oh, and there are supply crates in the storage area that need moving to the west wing. Heavy ones. I'm sure you can manage."

She walked away, her footsteps echoing down the corridor. I stood there for a moment, my thumb moving along my wrist. Once. Twice.

Then I went to find a bucket and scrub brush.

The great hall was massive. The floor was already clean. That wasn't the point. I knelt down and started scrubbing anyway, working in slow, methodical circles. Warriors passed through on their way to training. Some ignored me. Others glanced down with expressions that ranged from pity to contempt.

Margaret appeared twice, each time with a small audience. She didn't speak to me directly, but her voice carried.

"It's generous of Bodie, really, letting her stay. Most Alphas wouldn't keep a packless she-wolf around with so little to offer."

I kept scrubbing. The water in the bucket turned gray.

"She should be grateful he hasn't expelled her entirely. The pack house isn't a charity."

My hands were red and raw by the time I finished. I moved to the storage area next. The crates were exactly as heavy as Margaret had implied. I hauled them one by one, my muscles burning, sweat soaking through my shirt. A group of Deltas watched from the doorway. One of them laughed.

I didn't stop. I didn't speak. I counted each crate. Twelve in total. By the time I finished, my shoulders were screaming and my hands were shaking.

Margaret inspected my work with a critical eye. "Adequate," she said finally. "You may go."

I walked back to my small room at the far end of the pack house. The room they'd given me three years ago, barely bigger than a closet. I sat on the edge of the narrow bed and looked at my hands. They were blistered and filthy.

Two weeks, I thought. Just two weeks.

I could feel my wolf stirring inside me, restless and angry. She'd been patient for three years, suppressed and silent. Now she wanted out. She wanted to show them exactly what they'd been dismissing.

Soon, I told her. Soon.

The mind-link came three days later.

Bodie's voice in my head was smooth, unhurried. *Meet me at the north border clearing. We need to discuss pack matters.*

I didn't respond immediately. I let the silence stretch, feeling the mate bond pull between us like a thread being tested.

*When?* I asked finally.

*Now.*

The clearing was a twenty-minute walk from the pack house. It was neutral ground, technically outside Graymist's inner territory. I'd been there before, usually when Bodie needed to discuss something he didn't want overheard.

He was already waiting when I arrived. He stood with his back to me, looking out at the tree line. His posture was relaxed, confident. Alpha.

I stopped a few feet away and waited.

He turned. His eyes swept over me, and I wondered what he saw. Did he notice the blisters on my hands? The exhaustion I'd been carrying for three years?

"Scarlet," he said. His voice was warm. Too warm. "Thank you for coming."

I didn't respond.

He took a step closer. "I know things have been... complicated lately. With the Silverpine alliance. With Nina."

I ran my thumb along my wrist. He didn't notice.

"But I want you to understand," he continued, "that you're still important to the pack. To me."

The mate bond twisted in my chest. I could feel what he wanted. He wanted me to stay quiet, stay available, stay in the background where I'd always been. His emotional anchor. His invisible support.

"I need you here," he said. "Graymist needs you. The work you do—"

"The errands," I said quietly.

He blinked. "What?"

"The errands I handle. As an Omega."

Something flickered across his face. Discomfort, maybe. Or annoyance. "That was... I was simplifying things for the guests. You know how pack politics work."

"I do," I said. "I've been managing them for three years."

His jaw tightened. Before he could respond, his eyes went distant. Someone was mind-linking him. I watched his expression shift, saw the exact moment his attention left me.

"The Silverpine delegation is arriving early," he said, already turning. "I need to—"

He started walking away. Mid-conversation. Mid-sentence.

"Bodie."

My voice wasn't loud. It wasn't sharp. But he stopped.

I took a breath. "The mate bond means nothing to a wolf who treats his mate like a servant."

He turned back, his eyes narrowing.

"You can't invoke a sacred bond with one hand," I continued, my voice steady and precise, "while reaching for a shinier option with the other."

"Watch your tone," he said. The Alpha command was there, pressing down on the air between us.

I looked at him. Really looked at him. And I felt nothing but a distant, cold clarity.

"You want me to stay," I said. "You want me available. You want me grateful. But you won't even finish a conversation before running to her."

His aura flared. "I am your Alpha."

"You were supposed to be my mate."

The words hung between us. I watched him process them, watched the Alpha authority in his expression fracture just slightly.

I didn't wait for his response. I turned and walked away, leaving him standing alone in the clearing.

Behind me, I heard him call my name. Once. Then nothing.

I didn't look back.